


Cobalt

by reapergrimm



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 06:03:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20059243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reapergrimm/pseuds/reapergrimm
Summary: A tip about a theft at the Nakasumi Toys Corporate HQ pits Kim and Ron against a new foe. And a routine mission soon turns into high speed chase over the streets of Shinjuku. A sequel to A Possible Reunion.





	Cobalt

** Cobalt **

_The usual boilerplate disclaimer. I do not own Kim Possible. Kim Possible is the intellectual property of the Walt Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle._

_Jen Credible and Cobalt are the creations of Blackbird._

The urban glow of downtown Tokyo illuminated the corporate office building of the Nakasumi Toys Corporation. Most of the company's employees had left for the night, leaving only cleaning and security staff behind to wander the halls. Yet, despite both these workers and the best security systems money could buy, an unseen trespasser was making her way through the building.

It didn't take her long to reach her target: Nakasumi's CEO office at the top of the building. The two guards placed at the doors were no obstacle. All it took to get one of them to wander off was to hack his earpiece with her headset, and he was off to examine some unheard noise. A quick taser to the small of his back took care of the remaining sentry. As expected, he carried a key card she could use to slip into the office undetected.

Nakasumi's office was grand and spacious. Pictures of his previous best selling toys lined the wall to the thief's right that was adjacent to the floor to roof windows overlooking Shinjuku. At the opposite end of the room from the double doorway entrance was the prize: Mr. Nakasumi's personal desktop computer atop an elegant oak desk. Silently closing the large doors behind her, the intruder quickly made her way across the room and turned on the computer in the dark office.

Once the login box filled the monitor, she stuck a USB drive into the tower under the desk. Another box opened on the screen, a loading bar quickly filling itself as random numbers and letters filled the login box. Yet, when it seemed like the USB had cracked Nakasumi's username and password, the screen went black. Then a stylized green and yellow K and P shot forward, followed by a little jingle that went “deet-deet-di-deet-deet”.

The lights in the office snapped on, and a ventilation grill dropped down from the ceiling. A svelte young redhead with long hair and green eyes in a purple t-shirt with a brown backpack and black pants with a purple stripe down the sides of her legs deftly slipped down from the unseen duct. She flipped her hair and placed her hands on her hips, a confident smirk on her face.

Kim's impressive arrival was immediately undermined by a tumbling sound in the vents above. A high-pitched yelp echoed out of the opening, followed by a blonde young man in a black shirt and grey cargo pants immediately falling down on his rear from the duct. He groaned and rubbed his rump as he stood up.

Examining his waist and behind, Ron proudly exclaimed “Boo-ya! No pants lossage this time! Halfaversery belt saves the day!”

Kim gave Ron an amused grin, then turned her attention to the thief at Nakasumi's desk. She was... new, to say the least. She was wearing a skintight black suit that definitely confirmed her slim feminine physique. The suit had cobalt blue armour pieces on her chest, shoulders, forearms and shins with pale blue electrical lines akin to circuitry covering her ensemble. Her face was completely obscured by a mask made from the same cobalt blue material as her armour and utility belt.

There were opaque blue goggles over her eyes, the lenses wide and somewhat bug-like that were connected by a small, pinched link over the bridge of the thief's nose. The circuitry lines over the lower half of the mask seemed to invoke the empty cheeks and teeth of a skull.

Cyan blue bangs with black streaks peeked out from under a black hood with two long sections of hair draped over her chest. There were small openings on the side of the hood that allowed a pair of radio antennae to extend past her head, making it seem almost as if she had elven ears. All in all, this thief looked like some manner of anime character.

Raising her hands into fists and placing her feet into a defensive position, Kim readied herself for a fight.

“Took you long enough,” she quipped.

The enigmatic thief placed her right fingers on Nakasumi's desk, sliding her fingertips along its surface as she turned the corner, placing herself in front of the desk and facing Team Possible.

With an electronically filtered voice, she replied, “I could say the same to you.”

“Right, like you were expecting us.”

“I was, actually. Who do you think sent Nakasumi-san the warning that he was going to be the victim of a cyberattack?”

Ron raised his index finger with his mouth open as if he was about to say something, before a confused look crept across his face as he tried to process the thief's statement.

Chuckling, the thief stated, “_I_ sent the warning. Nakasumi-san is a good egg. He deserved a little warning to try and save his assets. Shame that my message contained a virus that allowed me to hack his remote servers as he backed up his data. I got what my employer wanted days ago. It's been delivered and I've been paid. But I haven't gotten what _I've_ wanted yet.”

The thief raised her right hand and began to rub her fingers together, “When aliens invade, you find your world view turned upside down... Or so I would imagine that would be the case for most people. My... 'experiences' in Los Diablos opened my mind to what sort of impossibilities are actually reality some time ago.”

Kim raised an eyebrow at the mention of Los Diablos. Her cousin Jen had only told her bits and pieces of the kind of things she encountered there, but it seemed like a dangerous place. If this thief used to skulk around that kind of city, then Kim needed to be on her toes.

The thief caught Kim's minute reaction to the Los Diablos comment. “I see you're not ignorant to what happens in that cesspit of a city. Well, suffice it to say, when I found out how _bad_ it truly was, I decided to get the heck out of dodge. I thought that I would never have to deal with those sorts of headaches ever again.”

“But then... your little _graduation day_ wasn't limited to just you, now was it? You changed the game. Now there are bits and pieces of Lorwardian salvage all over this planet, with everybody trying to claim their stake. So now... now I need to keep myself sharp. Those moon-men made life difficult all over the planet. Like when your trig professor starts class with a pop quiz you weren't prepared for. And given that you were the one to attract the big green men from the Planet Xandalfar, I think you'll be the perfect test run for some of my new upgrades.”

Ron was at attention now. Realizing that their opponent was targeting Kim directly, he had assumed a defensive Tai Shing Pek Kwar pose.

“How chivalrous,” the thief noted at Ron's reaction, “Relax, ninja boy. I'm not going to hurt your cheerleader.”

With a flick of her right wrist, three daggers seemingly made out of pale blue light manifested in between her fingers. Before Kim and Ron could react, she threw the daggers to her right, towards the windows. They became lodged within the glass, then began to flash in a rhythmic countdown. A notable explosion blew the glass outward, leaving the high elevation wind to blow into the office.

Kim and Ron lowered the arms they instinctively raised in order to shield themselves from the explosion. When the dust settled, the thief was standing with her back turned to broken window. She cocked her hip and raised her arms in a beckoning motion.

“Catch me if you can.”

The thief did a backflip, sending her diving down out of the building. As Kim and Ron ran out to look for her, two threads of the same pale blue light shot upward. They landed on the concrete above Team Possible's heads, and the thief was catapulted up to the roof in the blink of an eye.

“I got this, KP!” Ron shouted. All it took was puffing out his chest, and that monkey-shaped shroud of energy flared to life around him, the screeching of a thousand monkeys carried on the wind. With a quick little hop, Ron shot upward like a bullet, crashing through the ceiling of Nakasumi's office straight through to the roof.

Kim coughed as more dust fell down around her from Ron's impromptu 'exit'. Once her eyes could see again, she saw the wreck that used to be Mr. Nakasumi's office. Glass, dust, bits of drywall and pieces of concrete littered the room. The statues and pictures of bright toys were all covered with debris.

“Ooh... Mr. Nakasumi is not going to be happy about this...” Kim groaned as she raised her right arm and shot her Kimmunicator's grapnel line upwards through Mr. Nakasumi's new skylight.

The roof of Nakasumi's corporate headquarters was as much of a hindrance to Ron's exit strategy as butter was to a hot knife. Exploding up into the air, Ron immediately searched the roof for the mystery thief. He soon saw her looking upward, with body language that could only describe her as being dumbfounded at the sight of what most people would consider a shonen manga hero come to life.

“Boo-ya!” Ron shouted as he used the energy around him to launch himself mid-air towards the thief on the roof, his left fist extended as he charged forwards. In his mind, he thought he acted too fast for the thief to react. At least, that was what he hoped in the split second he realized he had forced his fist right through her chest.

The moment seemed to linger for an eternity. Unlike with Warhok and Warmonga, who died far away and definitely deserved what they got, this was just some corporate thief. The first thing that entered his mind was “What's Kim going to think of me?”

That's when the thief shattered into what seemed to be thousands of glowing blue pieces of glass. And when Ron noticed that the 'thief' had dropped a black canister that had a ring of light flashing around its diameter. What happened next was difficult for Ron's mind to process. He was blinded by an intense white light as a massive wave of localized sound cascaded over his body, leaving his ears ringing and his body completely disoriented.

It was so bad Ron felt himself falling down on the roof. But since Ron was hobbled by the thief's flashbang grenade, he couldn't see the sparks of electricity form a humanoid silhouette behind him. As the thief broke her stealth field, she extended the index and middle fingers of both her hands as they became covered in arcs of electricity. Enhanced by the tasers in her fingertips, the thief landed a series of quick, light jabs to Ron's back and shoulders. As he spasmed from the shock, Ron fell forward in a slump, his face planted on the concrete and his rear end propped up in the air as his mystical aura dissipated.

By the time Kim made her way through Ron's renovation to Nakasumi's building, she was greeted with the sight of Ron's humiliating defeat. Kim used the momentum from her grapnel line to flip herself forward to the thief, landing on her feet and immediately setting off into a dash to engage her foe. The thief turned to face Kim, and simply stood her ground. As Kim closed the distance, she began to spin counterclockwise as she prepared to deliver a spin kick with her right leg.

Just before Kim's kick could connect, however, a sphere of translucent blue energy sprung into existence around the thief's body. Kim was able to adjust her foot in time to make it parallel to the sphere's perimeter, planting her foot on the surface and quickly raising her left foot to place it on the shield wall as well. Kim then used the momentum from her charge to propel herself off of the energy dome, flipping backwards to land on her feet and facing her barricaded opponent.

“Tch, Copycat much?” Kim quipped as she stared down her foe.

“Who says you're so original? I've been operating longer than you've had your little website,” the thief responded as she deactivated her energy shield. She cracked her neck as she rolled her head and flexed her arms.

Not one to give up, Kim drew her hair dryer grapnel gun from her right thigh pouch and launched the line past the thief's head. She attached the line to an industrial fan and then pressed down on the handle, causing the line to retract and carry her forward to her target. In response, the thief casually raised her left hand, her hand covered with dancing electricity and placed a light grip on the grapnel line.

Kim managed to cover enough distance when she saw the electrical attack against her line, and immediately let go of the hair dryer to let it complete its trajectory towards the thief. As the electricity snaked its way up the line to the hair dryer itself, the thief began to dodge to her right. Her instincts served her well, for once the electricity reached the main gun, it exploded.

Now with the benefit of a smokescreen, Kim charged forward yet again. As she found her opponent within the acrid smoke, she jumped upward and began to deliver a downward strike with her right fist. The thief caught Kim's wrist with her left hand as it came down, her right hand over the antennae device on her right ear. As she fiddled with a dial, the lenses of goggles changed from bright red back to their normal blue. Kim responded with a swift kick to the thief's mid-section, which caused her enemy to drop her wrist to roll with the blow.

The thief quickly got back up to her feet as she recovered from Kim's kick.

“Clever girl. Jenny was right to sing praises about you.”

A mild look of shock crept across Kim's face, “You know my cousin?”

“Know her? I wound up working with her more often than not. I was kind of her 'pet project'. She kept trying to get me to give up my lifestyle. She insisted that I had the potential to be more than a corporate saboteur. Just because I _can_ be a hero if it suits me doesn't mean the life is for me.”

“If Jen thought you could be a hero, why didn't you try being one? You've got mad skills. You could go far as a hero!”

“Because I don’t know what to _do_ with my life anymore!” the thief shouted back.

The two women stood silent for a moment after that. The thief placed her hand over her mask and began a depressed laugh to herself, “Heh... heh-heh… that was a bit personal, wasn’t it, cheerleader?.. Dang it, Jenny... you’re an ocean away and just talking about you gets under my skin...”

The thief lowered her hand and raised her face skyward. “I think that's enough fun and games for tonight. I’m not in the mood anymore. Catch you later, kiddo...” She twitched her right hand, causing a gauntlet of light to manifest around her forearm. Immediately, three copies of the thief flickered into existence in front of her.

“You seriously expect me to fall for the old 'hologram decoy' trick?” Kim said as she ran forward.

She expected to simply walk through the holograms, only to be blindsided when the hologram on the left landed a right hook to Kim's face. Kim swayed to her right, only to be punched by the hologram to her right as the central hologram kicked Kim in the stomach.

“My suit can make light solid, cheerleader.” the thief stated as she vaulted over fans and pipes, aiming to run away to the opposite edge of the roof. The hologram copies began to beat Kim down, but unbeknownst to them, she managed to get on her feet. Kim reached down with both her hands and clicked something on her shoes.

Her rocket skates flared to life, and the force of their ignition caused Kim to burst past the hologram clones, shattering them in her wake. The speed of the skates made it a little difficult to navigate the usual obstacles you'd find on the roof of a major office building, but Kim vaulted, juked and pressed onward like nothing was in her way.

Kim had nearly closed the distance between herself and the thief when her quarry just jumped off of the side of the building. Kim reached out to grab the thief, but her ankles just barely slipped her grasp. As the rocket skates burned out, Kim looked down at her fleeing target, trying to think of a way to catch her. That was when the thief flipped in midair and landed on a platform of solid light that generated directly under her feet. The thief then used her momentum to vault further away, over the city streets by jumping from light platform to light platform.

Seeing the thief making her getaway, Kim reached for a ripcord located on her backpack, yanking it to extend her jet pack. She blasted off after the thief, a helmet attaching itself to her head from a waldo arm located in the main engine. As she bared down on her target, the Kimmunicator rang.

“Go, Wade.” Kim responded as she raised the Kimmunicator to her face.

“Hey Kim. How's the Nakasumi case going?” Wade asked cheerfully as Kim raised her wrist-mounted communication device in front of her face.

“Well, the thief got the data days ago, Nakasumi's office is destroyed, Ron's knocked out cold, and I'm chasing some hologram cyberthief who is wearing some cheap knockoff of my battlesuit! So all in all, could be better!”

“Wait, what kind of thief?” Wade asked with mild excitement to his voice.

“Look for yourself.” Kim said as she tried to position the Kimmunicator monitor as best she could to show Wade the thief running on light over the streets of Tokyo.

“Kim... do you know who that is?!” Wade asked, no longer able to hide his excitement.

“Let's say I don't.”

“That's Cobalt! At least, I think it's her! She's supposed to be the BEST thief on the planet!”

“Okay, first of all, that's not a good thing to be excited about! Second, Shego is more famous than this headache!”

“Kim, just because someone is famous doesn't mean they're the best in their field. NOBODY has ever managed to capture Cobalt. Nobody even knows what she looks like under her helmet! Heck, she keeps upgrading her suit so often there isn't much to go on in regards to her appearance apart from her habit for using hard light constructs and the colour of her suit!”

“You almost sound like you idolize her, Wade...”

“She's also one of the best hackers on the planet. It's rumoured that's how she got her start, anyway. She hacked some secret military project, and then she just kept stealing hi-tech equipment to build her suit. The rumours about her and that suit... I had to try to see if hard light generation was possible!”

“Wait... don't tell me...” Kim gasped, “MY battlesuit is the cheap knockoff?!”

“Hey! I take offence to that! Your battlesuit is a 100% Wade original!” Wade retorted with a huff as he crossed his arms. Then a mildly embarrassed look worked its way onto his face. “I just… didn’t have all the pieces when I made yours. Your suit was more of a proof of concept run than anything else.”

“Not reassuring, Wade! And I don't have time to listen to you being her fanboy!” Kim snapped as she shut off the link to Wade.

.....

Back on the roof of Nakasumi's corporate HQ, Ron was struggling to stand on his two feet. His body felt like it was made of jelly, and each attempt to move looked like a beached octopus flailing about. Somehow Ron wobbled to his feet, raised his left hand as if he were back in any of Mr. Barkin's classes and exclaimed,

“I’ve got this!”

Ron immediately faceplanted back into the concrete roof, his voice muffled from his compressed face,

“I don’t got this!”

.....

Kim looked down at Cobalt making her escape, and she had to admit: Cobalt could really move. She was keeping pace with Kim's jet pack as she essentially performed parkour with her light platforms over Shinjuku’s streets. Though that was probably because Kim wasn't focusing on her task at hand, which was giving Cobalt a slight edge.

“Time to correct that,” Kim thought to herself as she pressed down on the jet pack throttle handle and began to bare down on Cobalt.

The roar of Kim's jet pack clued Cobalt in to Kim's advancing charge. Turning her head, Cobalt calculated Kim's speed and rate of decline in her mind. She slid on her light platforms, turning herself around to face Kim again. She then began to jump from building to building side, her suit generating more platforms for Cobalt to jump off of as she began to close the distance between herself and Kim.

Kim didn't have the time to adjust her jet pack's trajectory as Cobalt changed her course. As Kim kept barrelling forward, Cobalt apparently jumped past Kim. Only for her to spin midair and launch a light thread grapnel line from her right gauntlet. The thin hologram cable connected to the back of Kim's jet pack, and then Cobalt began to retract her line, pulling her towards Kim.

“What are you _doing?!_” Kim asked incredulously at her impromptu passenger.

“Clipping your wings, cheerleader.”

With that, Cobalt's left hand sparked with electricity as she pressed it against Kim's jet pack. The jet pack began to spark and sputter from the damage from Cobalt's attack. Cobalt herself jumped off of Kim's back and began to run away on her platforms as Kim began to enter freefall. Seeing that her jetpack was having a major malfunction, Kim undid her straps to remove the jetpack just before it began to explode.

Kim immediately assessed her situation. Her grapnels wouldn't be enough to keep up with Cobalt and her rocket skates were out of fuel. The only way to continue the chase was to call in the Sloth. She immediately brought the Kimmunicator in front of her face and pressed the necessary sequence of buttons to summon the Sloth from Nakasumi's office parkade.

The Sloth roared to life deep underground and immediately began to burn rubber. The onboard nav-system deftly avoided all obstacles and people to make its way above ground. At which point, it immediately engaged its rocket systems to take flight. Escaping the ground, the Sloth began to bear down on Kim's location over the streets of Shinjuku.

Kim was starting to worry as the street was becoming ever closer. Thankfully, the sound of the Sloth's engines rebuilt her composure. Seeing her car close the distance, Kim shot out her Kimmunicator grapnel line to snag a street light just before she hit the pavement. The momentum gave her a pendulum effect as she began to swing back up into the air. The grapnel disconnected from the lamp and recoiled back into the Kimmunicator as Kim hung in midair for a moment just as the Sloth made its way under her.

With the sunroof open, Kim elegantly slipped into her driver's seat. The seat belts automatically buckled themselves around Kim's chest and she immediately began to gun the motor to resume her chase. A holographic display filled the interior of the windshield, showing a HUD and tracking system. It didn't take long to ping Cobalt's location above the streets. Her suit was emitting a powerful energy signature that read like a solar flare.

Cobalt was keeping pace with the jet pack. She would not outrun the Sloth. Something Cobalt herself realized when she heard the bellowing of rockets closing the distance on her.

“You just don't quit, do you cheerleader?”

Yet again, Cobalt turned to face Kim. She probably didn't have anything with her that packed enough of a punch to take out her rocket car. But she didn't have to. Jenny had told her a fair bit about the cheerleader's personality and what kind of hero she was. And after all, a vehicle was only as much of a threat as its operator.

Cobalt took a running charge with her platforms towards the Sloth that was closing in with dangerous speed. Just before impact, Cobalt jumped into the air and shot out her light cables to anchor herself to the flying car. As she landed on the hood of the Sloth, arcs of electricity danced out from the soles of her feet, magnetically anchoring her to the car.

Her position secure, she generated a pair of holographic knives, a dagger in each hand. She then sliced up the Sloth's windshield, causing the glass to crumble to pieces so she could talk to Kim.

“Didn't your parents tell you that 'no means no'?”

“Didn't _your_ parents tell you that stealing is wrong?” Kim responded.

“Like I had model parents.” As she said that, Cobalt took out a black cylinder from off her belt.

She clicked a button on the end of the cylinder, and a pair of rings of blue light began to flash around its diameter. Cobalt then casually threw it to her side, letting it fall away from the Sloth... and into active traffic. It wasn't long until a bright flash of light exploded down on street level as the Sloth continued to fly away. Kim looked back in shock and horror, while Cobalt stood up on the hood of the Sloth.

“Looks like you have a choice to make, cheerleader.” Cobalt said as she cocked her hips and raised her hands in mock surprise.

Cobalt disengaged the magnetic effects of her boots and promptly jumped off the Sloth, using her light cables to swing away. She then hopped along her platforms to make her way to street level and promptly engaged her stealth field just before she landed on the ground. Kim, for her part, swerved the Sloth around as fast as she could so she could get to the spot where the flashbang detonated.

The light from the flashbang was beginning to recede, but the people at the intersection were still blinded and disoriented from the sonic detonation. There was a young, college-aged couple stopped right in the middle of the crosswalk. And a large cargo truck heading towards them. For what it was worth, the driver of the truck saw the disoriented couple and tried to hit the brakes. But a vehicle of that size doesn't stop on a dime.

Seeing a tragedy about to happen, Kim accelerated the Sloth's motor and flew past the cargo truck. She pulled up the video link in the dashboard and called up her brothers, who were evidently eating their cereal in the breakfast nook..

“Jim! Tim! Please tell me I can fire the new winch line without the windshield targeting system?!” Kim frantically asked.

“What happened to the windshield?” Jim asked hesitantly.

“CAN I FIRE THE WINCH WITHOUT IT?!”

“You should...” Tim began to respond, but Kim had heard all that she needed to.

Kim flipped some switches on the dashboard, and a segment of the front hood retracted as the hood ornament extended upward to become a sight. A coil of heavy cable revealed itself, and Kim had only a few seconds align herself as best she could to help stop the cargo truck. She got the Sloth above and behind the truck's cargo area, with the Sloth angled downward. She pressed a button on the drive stick and fired the winch line.

By some miraculous stroke of luck, the winch connected with the cargo box of the truck. Kim immediately slammed on the brakes and began to pull back on the steering wheel as she fought against the truck's momentum. Between the efforts of Kim, the Sloth and the driver of the truck, they all somehow managed to stop the truck just mere inches away from hitting the couple in the crosswalk.

.....

“KP? When did you become a triplet?” Ron asked woozily as he sat on the edge of an ambulance.

When Kim got back to Nakasumi's HQ, a media circus had formed. It was to be expected, really. For all intents and purposes, Nakasumi's CEO office exploded. There were emergency workers assessing the damage to the building and reporters pressing against a police line, pestering the officers with questions and making live reports.

There were a few paramedics and ambulances behind the barricade examining those who wound up being tased by Cobalt. Thankfully, Nakasumi's employees suffered no lasting damage. If anything, Ron was the one who wound up hurt the most. But even then, the paramedics assured Kim that he was to make a full recovery. He wouldn't even need a hospital stay.

“Heh... In your dreams, Ron.” Kim said with a chuckle.

“Possible-san!” a familiar voice cried out over the commotion surrounding the immediate area.

Kim turned around to see Ms. Kyoko and Mr. Nakasumi approaching them at their ambulance. They were always an eye-capturing sight. The tall and beautiful Ms. Kyoko in her red silk dress and headband nicely contrasting with the short and stocky, but always friendly Mr. Nakasumi. Despite the chaos that happened tonight, Mr. Nakasumi didn't seem too upset. If anything, he seemed relieved given the wide smile he had on his face.

“Thank heavens that you're both alright. When we heard there was an explosion, we began to worry.” Ms. Kyoko stated with relief.

“Though not too worried, given your exploits.” Mr. Nakasumi said with a little mirth to his voice.

“Mr. Nakasumi, I am so, so sorry.” Kim said as she came forward to apologize, “The thief managed to get your data when you transferred everything to your remote servers a few days ago. This was all an elaborate setup so she could use me as a guinea pig for her new equipment upgrades.”

Chuckling, Mr. Nakasumi raised a hand as if to try and reassure Kim, “Do not worry, Possible-san. I wouldn't have gotten where I am today by keeping every project online.” As he said that last part, he turned his hand towards his head and began to poke his temple with his index finger.

“But-” Kim began to protest.

“Possible-san, we will recover from this. We do not know exactly what the thief was after, but we are a toy company. It is not like we are developing bio-weapons or doomsday devices. We might take a hit on the quarterly profits, but life is not about profits. Especially when we strive to make children happy.” Mr. Nakasumi said with a wide smile.

“Did you at least assess who the thief was and who employed him?” Ms. Kyoko enquired.

“Her.” Kim responded.

“Her?”

“The thief was a woman. Some high-tech cyberninja that Wade seems to think is someone called 'Cobalt'. Oh, speaking of Wade, I should apologize to him next time we speak, I was a bit rude when-”

Kim's train of thought was cut off by Mr. Nakasumi's laughter. “Cobalt was behind this? I should be flattered someone went to the expense to hire her. But in truth, I pity the poor fool who sought a deal with someone as unpredictable as her.”

Kim and Ron turned to each other and gave each other looks of confusion. “Let me explain,” Mr. Nakasumi started, “While Cobalt is indeed the best in her line of work, lately dealing with her has become a double-edged sword. While she delivers her services promptly and efficiently, almost always companies that have hired her have recently been finding their 'dirty laundry' being revealed to the public. Nothing has been proven, but where there is smoke...”

“You're saying this Cobalt turns on her employers after she's been paid?” Ron asked with confusion.

“So much for honour among thieves...” Kim said under her breath.

“Who knows what is going on in such a mind? At any rate, if Cobalt was hired, I'd wager whoever requested this theft is not going to be able to benefit from whatever data they stole from me for very long.” Mr. Nakasumi said with confidence.

“What a relief,” Ms. Kyoko sighed, “So all this will truly cost us in the long run is some renovations to the building.”

“I was thinking of redecorating anyway.” Mr. Nakasumi joked.

“Possible-san, for your efforts tonight, we would like to compensate you for your services. In addition to paying for your flight to and from Tokyo, we will repair your automobile. In addition, while your vehicle is being fixed, we will put both you and Stoppable-san up in our company suite in one of Tokyo's premier upscale hotels.” Ms. Kyoko said with a quick bow.

“Boo-ya! Impromptu Tokyo vacay!” Ron shouted as he jumped off the ambulance. Then he immediately fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain. “Ooh-ooh-ooh!.. Too soon for loud noises and quick movements...”

Kim leaned down and put her left arm around Ron, saying with a smile, “I think we can find plenty of nice, quiet things to do in a hotel room for a couple of days.”

With a sheepish chuckle, Ron said, “Heh-heh, boo-ya.”

**Author's Notes**

**So here is Cobalt! I had the idea for this story brew in my mind after seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse back in December. The scene that particularly inspired this story is the “What's Up, Danger?” scene where Miles Morales becomes Spider-Man for the first time and starts to parkour over a neon lit New York City.**

**As you might expect, Cobalt is a mild fusion of Spider-Man and Iron Man with a bit of Kasumi Goto from Mass Effect added to the mix. But instead of a hero, she's a corporate saboteur. Cobalt initially only existed as a one paragraph reference in Blackbird's Maternal Instinct fic where Jen Credible lists some of her rogues gallery. When I asked Blackbird about Cobalt, all he could really remember about her is that she had a pair of goggles that allowed her to see in multiple light spectrums.**

**I pretty much took the “light” gimmick and ran with it as I fleshed out Cobalt's character. All of which was approved by Blackbird before I started writing. So there you have it. Kim just crossed blows with one of Jen’s rogues. Depending on how the creative process hits me, I might write another short story as a sequel to this one.**


End file.
